


bad luck club

by Selemetis



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: AAAAALL fluff guys, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bickering, College AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, I have no regrets, Newspapers, One Night Stands, Romantic Comedy, Softness ensues, and lovers at some point, archie is... archie, bickering and all that shit, bughead learn to be friends, but in a cute way, constant bickering, even the angsty parts are fluff, just pure fluff, kevin keller is so done with his newspaper employee, literally 2000s romantic comedy, no smut tho i have to stop doing that, the blue and gold is here as always, to say the least, veronica saves the day, we stan a comedic enemies to lovers prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 17:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16897233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selemetis/pseuds/Selemetis
Summary: If someone told Jughead Jones that he’d spend the night at a girl’s room who was a stranger (an annoying one, for that matter) until two hours ago, the situation he was in now wouldn’t be the first thing to come up in his mind. Sure, was he a one night stand type of a guy? No. Did he do that before? No comment. Would he do that again? Depends. With Betty? Also no comment.//or, the famous College AU, One Night Stands run into each other and Enemies-to-Lovers tropes all in one fic. here we go.





	1. #1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Carpelia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carpelia/gifts), [StrikerStiles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrikerStiles/gifts).



> hello!! yes, again with a cheesy fic and yes, i have no shame whatsoever.
> 
> this was supposed to be written and done looooong time ago (and I mean long) when a close friend of mine give me the prompt but i am a lazy ass binch who loves to procrastinate. 
> 
> all fluff no angst, just to make myself and you happy. hope you like it!

For what it's worth, Riverdale Community College was actually a pretty nice college to attend. Okay, it was full of jocks from other towns and  _ okay _ , it didn't have the best GPA average but it was a drama-free school to be a part of and its facilities were actually working. So if you'd ask Betty Cooper, it exceeded her expectations already.    
On her first day at college, she found out that her resident roommate was a filthy rich New Yorker and even though Betty Cooper, being Betty Cooper, had so many questions on the occasion, she decided to shut up and give Veronica Lodge her nicest smile. And it turned out, this filthy rich New Yorker was actually a good person to have in the room. First, she was really clean and second, she was more social than Betty could ever be and that granted her a chance to make friends at college easier.   
Which led the duo’s constant bickerings into today’s mess: the first party of the year. Betty didn’t know why, didn’t know how but her new roommate and self proclaimed best friend found a way for them to access the frat party that was held by bunch of jocks on campus.  _ And oh how much Betty hated that section of social hierarchy _ . But it was impolite to reject a kind offer coming from her roommate and it was about the damn time for her to break her mother’s chains on her that were made of prejudice. 

“You are gonna  _ love _ this party, B!” Veronica claimed as she led her to the frat house on the other side of the campus. “And not just because of the drinks and the boys  _ or the girls, you know _ . But because I kinda figured you are a social network admirer and believe me when I say there is no better way than meeting people at college parties.”

“You are only freshman, Veronica,” Betty chuckled. “How are you supposed to know anything about college parties at this point?”

“First of all, B, I saw every 00’s movie in existence and second of all, I am a Lodge. That’s not even my first college party.” Veronica retorted proudly. “This gonna be just great.”

“And how are we invited, you said?” Maybe that was her fifth time asking but she had to be sure they were  _ both _ invited.

“I told you, Betty, that Justin Gingerlake at the orientation? Yeah, he reached out today and asked me if I wanted to come to his team’s party tonight and told me I can bring friends if I want to.” she rolled eyes. “Satisfied?”

Betty huffed and adjusted the wrinkles on her dress. 

“ _ Fine. _ ” she said finally. “But the second I feel overwhelmed--”

“You are out, yeah, no worries. Just let me know you feel out of sorts and I will supply you with my friendship, B.”

Betty smiled at her exaggerated yet genuine offer and took a deep breath before they plunged into the oxygen lacking frat party. They were  _ everywhere _ . Their school’s letterman jackets, high pitched laughters, empty and discarded red cups… Betty almost felt like at home and it made her wanna vomit. 

“Archie must be around.” Veronica yelled while trying to see a ginger head around them. Lucky for her, there wasn’t much gingers at their school. “There he is!” She tucked Betty’s hand and navigated her through the see of semi drunk people. The second they reached Archie the Ginger Jock, Betty had to pinch herself for not to screech. He was looking like one particular jock she had known before and truth to be told, he wasn’t the best person she met. Not even close. So when this Archie reached her to shake her hand, she stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

“Oh, hi!” she said finally, putting the nicest smile she had on her face. “I’m Betty, Betty Cooper.”

“Archie Andrews.” the boy said with an equally nice smile. “Nice to meet you.”

And that was the length of his attention span. The second Veronica asked him where they can find a less cheap drink, he was lost in the crowd to get her one.

“Isn’t he adorable?” she sighed. 

“He seems… nice.” Betty said. “For a jock.”

“What’s wrong with jocks?” a new voice joined their conversation. Betty was about to give a polite answer to shut him up but the new guy was next to Archie, holding two red cups so she just shrugged.

“They are not usually expected to be nice is all.”

She took a red cup from Archie and surprised it was actually a nice beer. 

“This is Jughead Jones.” Archie explained. “My best friend. Jug, this is Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge. They are freshmen like us.”

Betty raised her eyebrows at this Jughead, not wearing a letterman like Archie but had a weird grey beanie on his head, and was very eager to defend jocks’ honor.

“Jocks are good kids who are expected to be and do good in life.” Jughead disregarded Archie’s introduction. “Attacking them seems… juvenile.”

“You are one to talk.” Archie snorted and Jughead gave him a death glare.

“Well,” Betty felt like she needed to out her opinion on this incredibly ridiculous arguman. “I’m not a sociology expert but the statistics on social hierarchies at average high schools begs to differ.”

Now Jughead snorted.

“Coming from a pretty blonde girl next door, your hypothesis seems pretty vail, don’t you think?”

Betty grabbed her cup a little tighter and checked Veronica and Archie, who weren’t even interested in their conversation anymore. 

“Gee,” Betty said with full sarcasm. “Who died and left you in charge of making assumptions on people’s lives?”

Jughead seemed taken aback with her retort but a grin appeared on his face nonetheless. He took off his leather jacket which also seemed like a very pretentious cloth to wear at a frat party. Although, it was a  _ frat party _ . 

His “S” printed grey shirt and beanie matched somehow and even though Betty didn’t want to think about it, the boy before her seemed, well,  _ okay _ , say to least. 

“I know this might be a strange concept for you but I usually don’t need anyone’s approval to out my thoughts, so no one had to die for me to do it.” 

Betty rolled eyes at him and shook her head, not elaborating the conversation anymore. But when she spotted a tattoo peeking out of Jughead’s t-shirt, she couldn’t help her giggle.

“What?” Jughead shot. Betty shook her head again and had a sip from her beer. “Out with it, Betty.” Jughead pressed.

“Well, if you must know,” Betty seemed amused, “the snake on your arm looks like a candy wrap tattoo.”

“Looks like  _ what _ ?” Jughead’s frown got deeper but a few seconds later he pulled himself together. “Honestly, Betty, is that the best you can do? Attacking different things to avoid the previous conversation? You could come up with an answer, you know.”

“Or I didn’t want to waste my time on things I can’t change or don’t care, maybe?” she said with a fake smile and Jughead’s expression faltered for a moment.  _ Wait, was he looking at her lips? _ It must be the beer, she thought.

“Yeah because you seem like the life of the party, Cooper.” Jughead said. “Have fun, or at least try. I heard it’s a healthy thing to do once in a while.”

“Be your own doctor, Jones.” she shot back. “Or else your Edgar Allan Poe aesthetics will be the death of you.”

“Aw, you are cute when you are worried about me, Betty. Touching, really.”

“It must be a long time since the last time you actually talked to a cute girl, so I’ll let you have this one.” Betty said and turned her attention to Archie who is now introducing his teammates to Veronica.

 

For Betty’s defense, she was not the type of girl who insults people on a daily basis. She was the nice girl that everybody loved and she was happy about that reputation. But this stupid, stupid nicknamed Jughead Jones was fueling the fire in her that was always ready to burn. It was not a part of hers that she was proud to show but Jughead seriously almost  _ begged for it _ . Okay, this wasn’t an excuse but  _ who’d defend jocks? Who’d do that? _ Okay maybe it wasn’t even his fault. Betty hated jocks, always thought them selfish and fame craving monsters which was true to a degree. You could ask Polly Cooper about that one. Mother of two at the age of 17, single mom living in the city away from their parents at the age of 19. Yeah, you could ask her sister about jocks. 

Being overwhelmed by the masculinity around her after fifteen minutes of listening Reggie Mantle and Moose Mason’s “legendary” football memories, Betty grabbed another red cup from the drink table and threw herself outside. She took three deep breaths to calm herself down but mostly to cleanse her lungs from the weed going on in there. 

But of course,  _ of course _ , she wouldn’t get even a two minutes of solitude at a party like this. And of course,  _ of course _ , Jughead would be there smoking like he had got nothing better to do.

“Cooper,” he called her name. “Don’t you tell me you are here to smoke!” and his mockery was just  _ delightful _ . 

“Ugh.” Betty massaged her forehead. “Look, Jughead, this night already sucks without your interfere, okay? Just have your poison and get on with it.”

“No need to be so cheerful with my presence, Betty.” he mumbled. “Besides, have it ever occured to you that you might not be the only person who is already done with this place?”

Betty’s eyebrows arched. 

“Oh really?” she said, this time with a more sarcasm. “But you were so eager to defend them back there.”

For a moment Jughead seemed like a kid who got busted with his hand in cookie jar.

“I’m not really a fan of the crowd, actually.” he admitted half heartedly. “But I don’t hate them either, so…” he trailed off, throwing the cigarette into his red cup. Betty only could hope he wouldn’t drink that later. 

“Fighting for those in need.” Betty said. “Some would say it’s an honorable act. A little petty though, at a frat party. Honorable but a petty attempt.” 

Jughead gave her a lip but didn’t seem that agitated. 

“You seem like have a lot of unpopular opinion.” he said in return. “You should start a social media account with those.”

Betty gave him a fake smile and shook her head.

“Thanks but I like to rub them into people’s faces more. I like the reaction I got when they cannot come up with something witty like they thought they could. Remind you of someone?”

“Nah, not a soul.” Jughead nodded semi absent mindedly. “But I have some good ol’ popular opinions never cease to amaze me. Cliches are called cliches for a reason, you know.” 

“Is that how you make people like you? By talking some known facts out loud?”

“Oh, Betty Cooper, that’s where you are so wrong.” he chuckled. “I don’t make people like me or like them in return. I neither have the time nor the energy for that. Some of us,” he pointed himself, “needs to work for something actually worths for. Making people pleased all the time is certainly not on my list.”

Betty crossed her arms gave her weight on her left foot. 

“Well,  _ that’s _ obvious.” she murmured. “You must make your literary idols proud at some point.”

“A little observer, are we?” Jughead seemed amused. “But Lovecraft says--”

“Oh my God.” Betty shook her head in disapproval. “I figured you were some sort of a jerk but I never took you for a  _ Lovecraftian _ .”

Jughead’s eyebrows furrowed. 

“What’s wrong with Lovecraft? He is a literary genius.” 

“ _ Everything _ is wrong with him! He is a raging racist, should I say more?” Betty exclaimed in disbelief. For a second there, she was totally oblivious to their surroundings, which were drunk people leaving the party.

“I’m not talking about his  _ personality _ .” Jughead explained himself. He sounded like he had this conversation multiple times so now he knew his lines. “That’s not my business. But you cannot deny the fact that he changed the literature we know today.” 

“Well, you don’t have to idolize him, for starters. Appreciating his work is one thing, quoting his lines in daily life is hella other thing.” 

“You are one possible enigma, Cooper.” Jughead huffed. “Okay, you probably have a point in there but I am not gonna accept and/or admit that in a public occasion.”

“Oh please not. I would hate to get all the attention from your haters -- which I believe there must be dozens of them with that attitude.” Betty mocked and rubbed her arms out of cold. It was still September but the cold was starting to creep up on the town. 

_ The party sucked. The weather sucked. The people sucked. Jughead Jones sucked.  _ Betty was having second thoughts on this school. Drama-free? Yeah, didn’t think so after tonight. 

She went back inside without hearing his answer and walked around half an hour. She met a few people (Ethel Muggs, Midge Klump and a guy named Adam something), made even friends if she had to be pretentious. But after that, she decided to look for Veronica to tell her that she was leaving the party. It was only a couple of hours since they came and for Betty, it was a reasonable time to leave now. 

However Veronica Lodge had other plans. When Betty found him, which was in the broom closet under the stairs, she was occupied with one particular ginger’s lips. Betty could easily interrupt them, tell them  _ to fuck off _ or something equally rude (should she call Jughead for this? no? okay.) but it was beneath her and at least two of them was having fun like they were all supposed to do. 

So she turned around, went to the bar stand that was now close to empty and grabbed a red cup of cheap wine. While she was busy with her drink, she spotted someone at near the locked drink closet. Grey beanie, relatively tall -- Jughead. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it very quietly and she could also see a big bottle of something in his hands.  _ That sneaky bastard _ . He was actually stealing drink from Reggie Mantle’s house. To be perfectly honest with herself, Betty couldn’t care less since she believed Reggie even wouldn’t notice the absence a bottle of alcohol amongst his large stock of drinks. She couldn’t tell if Jughead saw her looking at him but she shrugged herself and turned her back on him. It was a frat party, Jughead was an asshole and she didn’t wanna be a part of these shenanigans. 

 

At some point after midnight, Betty was still at the party despite herself and people started leaving. Everyone was either drunk or high or both at that point and she was just a little bit tipsy. She was still looking for Veronica, or at least that was what she told herself and when she found her roommate, she was back on with Jughead’s irritating voice beside them.

“I  _ cannot _ believe you, Archie!” he grumbled. “What do you expect me to do at this point? You  _ fucking _ promised, dude!”

“Jug, man,  _ come on _ ! It’s not like I cheated on you or something, you can just spend time at the library like you always do!” Archie’s speech was a little bit slurry now.

“You know what? I don’t even know why I thought this party could go nicely to begin with. Maybe my hopes on your personality growth were  _ a little bit _ unrealistic.”

“You are being  _ such _ a drama queen right now!” Veronica couldn’t help herself. “This is goddamn college, Jughead, not an episode of the Housewives of LA!” 

“Oh you  _ would _ know that.” he murmured.

“Excuse me? What the hell that was supposed to mean?” she turned her attention at Archie. “Archiekins? Are we leaving together or should I call a cab for Betty and me?”

Archie seemed in a dilemma and something Betty thought this wasn’t the first time him and Jughead had an argument about the same issue. He pulled Jughead to a corner and talked to him for almost a minute. At the end of the conversation, Archie smiled triumphantly at Veronica.

“Let’s go, babe.”

Veronica kissed Betty’s cheek and winked at her.

“See you, B!”

Betty mumbled something about having fun and hoped that her way to dorm would be an easy one without her friend.

“ _ Babe. _ ” Jughead mimicked Archie. “I can’t believe this.” 

“Why are you so opposed to the idea of having fun?” Betty rolled her eyes at him.

“I am not  _ opposed _ to anyone’s  _ fun time _ . They just should simply do that away from my comfort zone. Like my side of the room and such. Because now, because of your friend, I have to spend the night outside and that’s not  _ fair _ .” 

“Well, hell is other people, what you gonna do?” 

Jughead gave her a glance over after her quotation and took a deep breath.

“Go to your room and sleep, Betty, that is a luxury some people cannot afford.”

“Extra, much?” Her voice was kinder now. Betty Cooper could be many things but cruel was certainly not one of them. So it wouldn’t surprise anyone who knew her if they heard what she said next. “Okay, this is absurd. Why don’t you spend the night at my room?” 

Jughead wouldn’t be seemed that much surprised if she slapped him across the face. 

“ _ What? _ ”

Betty’s cheeks felt redder than ever.

“I didn’t mean it like  _ that _ .” she explained herself. “I’m just saying -- Veronica won’t be using her side of the room tonight and you can sleep in her bed for the night. It’s only fair.” 

Jughead arched his eyebrows and frowned.

“And why would you let me do that?”

“Because I am a decent person, Jughead, that is why.” he didn’t seem impressed. “Also… I saw you sneaking a bottle of alcohol from Mantle’s closet. You can pay me with that.”

“A-ha! So much for the nice façade, huh, Cooper?” His tone wasn’t accusing and there was a wide grin on his face now. He actually… looked kinda good with that smile. Not that Betty would admit that,  _ but still. _

“So?” Betty ignored him. “Coming or not?”

“So eager to have me in your room? Betty, you are an enigma. I’m almost gonna think you are actually a nice person.”

“Yeah you said that before. Now if your wrong assumptions on my personality are done, it’s freezing already and I really wouldn’t mind some sleep.”

“Lead me the way, Dorothy Gale.”


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for your kudos, comments and bookmarks!! i'm so happy that you liked this story enough to do all that. hope you'll like the rest of it as well <3 
> 
> here's the second chapter!

If someone told Jughead Jones that he’d spend the night at a girl’s room who was a stranger (an annoying one, for that matter) until two hours ago, the situation he was in now wouldn’t be the first thing to come up in his mind. Sure, was he a one night stand type of a guy? No. Did he do that before? No comment. Would he do that again? Depends. With Betty? Also no comment.

For one thing, Betty  _ hated _ him. Okay, she gave him a shelter when he needed one but she was actually a nice person. Jughead might not trust nice people but at least he was sure of Betty’s kindness so that didn’t mean she didn’t hate him. She was just nice to a fault maybe and Jughead was an asshole also to a fault. And he knew better than anyone that people both could be nice and hate him at the same time.

They didn’t talk much till their way to her room and it was fine. What were they gonna talk about anyways? She clearly had some opinions on literature he would totally  _ hate _ and he didn’t feel like fighting about them right now. Sure, she was a cute petite blonde but during the long time of two hours of their encounter, he knew that she could irritate the shit out of him when she wanted to. That also annoyed him. Who the hell she thought she was? How could she had the audacity? Betty Cooper could be a nice person and  _ fine _ to look at but she was so annoying that he wanted to… do stuff. To shut her the hell up. Yeah.

“That’s me.” She said and he snapped out of his thoughts. “Just be quiet, okay? I really don’t people have the wrong impression about me.”

Jughead rolled eyes at her.

“You are thinking too much. No one would even care, everyone knows that parties happen and people drag other people into their rooms when they feel like it.”

Betty gave him a death glare as they climbed stairs.

“That might be true for you but I’m not… I don’t do that so I don’t want people think that I do.”

“Too many dos and don’ts for an eighteen year old girl.” He mumbled. 

Whether Betty heard him or not, she didn’t give an answer and digged her bag to find her keys. She struggled for ten seconds or so before she got to the door and stepped in.

“Welcome to your nightly shelter.” She said with an exaggerated salut. Jughead could even thought that was very cute of her under different circumstances but no -- she was just his nice but annoying as hell hostess.

“It already gives me the creeps.” he managed to say. She raised an eyebrow in response.

“Because it’s a girls dorm room?”

“No,” he explained. “It’s just… so  _ clean _ . If you catch my drift.”

“I don’t.” she simply put. “But welcome to the civilized world, I think.”

“Yeah whatever.” he mumbled and walked to the bed she pointed at and sat down. “And here,” he pulled out a bottle of tequila from his inside pocket. “My payment.”

Betty gave him a kind smile which was surprising for him in two ways: first, Betty hadn’t smiled at him at all until now and second, her smile was just… he hated to admit that to himself but it was true -- it was really beautiful. Like sunlight but not the burning kind under a hot summer day, more like a good spring morning kind of a way. Not that he spent thoughts on this statement under ten seconds. At all. That was just an easy fact that everyone with eyes could state.  _ Right? _

“It’s a good thing we have lemons.” she said and headed to the her side of the room and grabbed a lemon from the mini fridge beside her bed. Then she walked to him and reached for the cabinet over Veronica’s study table to fetch the shot glasses. It must be a good thing, Jughead thought, to have a neat and party freak roommate. Archie was neither of those and it gave Jughead migrene sometimes.

“But we have no luck in the salt department.” she said, sitting right next to him. 

He slowly gulped and rubbed the back of his neck, scooching over to make room for her. Jughead Jones could be many things but he’d rather choke on his blood than letting Betty assume he was taking advantage of the situation. Not that it was  _ Betty _ . It could be anyone. He wasn’t dramatic.  _ Shut up. _

“It’s okay.” he mumbled and watched her struggle with the bottle. When she triumphantly raised the bottle, he couldn’t help his chuckle. “Okay now before you spill any of that, can I have some?”

“I thought this was  _ my _ payment.” Betty pointed herself, an eyebrow arched. 

“Yeah. Right. Anyways I didn’t mean--”

Betty laughed at his nervousness and it  _ sorta, slightly _ , eased his anxiety. 

“I was messing with you, Jug.” she sighed. “And here I thought you were an arrogant, confident asshole.” But there was still a smile playing at the corner of her lips. He glared nonetheless. And also it didn’t go unnoticed on him; her calling him “ _ Jug _ .”

“Oh where did all the kindness went, Cooper? It stroke midnight?”

“Ha-ha.” and with that, her smile was all gone. “You can’t help yourself, can you?” as she passed him a shot of tequila and a slice of lemon, “You can’t play it nice just even for a night.”

“Who is assuming now?” Jughead threw the shot and it burned him without the salt. Betty repeated his action without an answer and didn’t even flinch.

“I’m gonna get rid of this dress.” she declared and went to the her side of the room, grabbed her pj’s and lost behind a small door -- it didn’t take a genius to know that it was the bathroom door. He didn’t figure why he was so nervous about this. It wasn’t like he wanted to impress her or anything. They were just… hanging out. Two people, disliking each other, sharing a stolen bottle of tequila… nothing could go wrong, right?

When she came back with black tights (or at least he thought those were what they were) and an old white t-shirt saying “ _ Rise and Shine _ ” with a sun picture below it, he was on his third shot. 

“Going fast much?” 

“It’s not my fault that it took forever for you to get undressed.” he bit back.

Betty rolled eyes at him and took the bottle out of his hands, sitting next to him. He wondered if she felt a little bit dizzy too. She poured herself one and drank it within ten seconds.

“Now who is going fast?” he cracked a smile but it didn’t work on Betty. She got up and walked around the room.

“Have you ever thought about being considering at any point of your life?” she asked bitterly.

“What the hell did I do now?” he got up too.

“Oh,  _ please _ , you act like being nice or being around nice people makes you sick and let me tell you something, Jughead: that’s how you get through the life.”

“No, it’s  _ not _ .” Jughead answered, now feeling a bit angry. He didn’t know where her anger came from but honestly, he didn’t even care in the slightest. Just because she was nice to him and had a gorgeous smile didn’t mean she could boss him around. “That’s not how I get through life, Betty. It may be like that in your  _ white picket fences and three kids _ fantasy life but kindness does not get you through life. So, no, I don’t feel like being considering or any of that fake shit any time soon.”

“Oh. My. God!” she exclaimed. “Do you even  _ hear _ yourself right now? How very fucking Holden Caulfield of you!”

“First of all, Holden doesn’t know a shit about  _ real life _ and second of all, what happened to your all perfect pretty girl next door act? What is this all sudden anger?”

“As if you care!” Betty said but didn’t realize she was yelling. Well, Jughead did and didn’t like it. “And stop assuming that I am  _ perfect _ or  _ girl next door _ or any of your bullshit you put upon me like a label!”

“Then stop yelling at me and bossing me around!” he was yelling now too. “You act like you are all nice and shiney first then you show your true colors when people don’t buy it! Welcome to the real world, Barbie, we don’t take your perfection crap.”

“STOP CALLING ME PERFECT!” now she was almost screaming and Jughead took a step back without realizing. She lowered her tone and took two deep breaths. “Stop calling me perfect.”

“Then stop bossing me around.” he lowered his voice on a same level. “Plus, you don’t know the first thing about me, why do you even act like you care what I assume about you anyways?”

And with that, he fueled Betty’s rage all over again.

“BECAUSE I AM A DECENT PERSON WITH DECENT CONCERNS, JUGHEAD.” 

“Geez,” Jughead sighed. “And here I thought you only offered me shelter out of the goodness of your heart. But I guess you needed a punching bag. Breaking news, princess, no can do.”

“YOU ARE PUTTING WORDS IN MY MOUTH!” Betty yelled at him and now he was raged as fuck too. She wanted a fight? So be it.

“OH I CAN COME UP WITH PLENTY OF THINGS TO DO IF ANY OF THEM IS GONNA SHUT YOU UP!” he talked without thinking. But hey, of course he could.

“OH, REALLY? LIKE WHAT?” Betty pushed him back and he took a step towards her, looking her right in the eyes. They were both taking heavy breaths and her breath winded his face. Jughead only then realized how extremely close they were and how green here eyes were.  _ Here goes nothing _ .

Without allowing himself to think about it, he cupped her face and kissed her. His initial thought was stepping back and leaving the room before she could slap him but he kept kissing her when he realized she was kissing him back.

It was pretty good, if he had to admit. Her lips were as soft as they seemed and he made a mental note that she was actually a good kisser. When she put her hands at the back of his neck, he pulled her from the waist to deepen the kiss. It was relieving, comforting even. All the nervousness and anger he felt for her melted with a few kisses and it felt more than okay. 

When they parted, needing air in their lungs, Betty swallowed a few times and Jughead thought even her reddened cheeks were a turn on.

“That is actually…” Betty managed to talk, “A pretty effective way to go.” She couldn’t look him in the eye and he smirked.

“I know, right?” His arrogant attitude was shaken but still there. “It is a good stress relief.”

Betty’s eyes snapped back at him and for a split second he thought the slap was coming. But instead Betty eyed him like she was calculating the odds and finally nodded.

“Yeah, it is.” she almost whispered and took a step forward and looked at him with a small smile. “Do it again.”

He’d be lying if he didn’t want to kiss her again, so he did and when he kissed her, he could almost feel her smile against his lips. She touched his lips with the tip of her tongue and he gladly accepted her invitation. She tasted like lemons and tequila and he smelled something like cherries. He swirled his tongue around hers and felt a little dizzy, certainly not because of the alcohol kicking in. A small moan escaped from Betty’s lips and Jughead moved her back towards her table. He could go to the bed as well but he didn’t know where this was going and didn’t want to do anything to disturb this moment. 

Betty backed where he led her and sat on the table, pulling Jughead with her. Now he was settled between her legs  _ and oh dear God _ , didn’t he like this side of her. She may be annoying as hell as her usual self but right now,  _ oh right now _ , he didn’t complain her company  _ at all _ .

“So much for the personal boundaries, huh?” Betty murmured when Jughead’s lips moved to her neck. 

“This is better than yelling,” he breathed between kisses, “Channelling our energy to something more--”

“Creative?” Betty gripped his hair slowly and when Jughead hissed at the sensation, she smiled ar herself. 

“You don’t even let me finish but yeah, creative works too.” he managed to say when he raised back to kiss her again. 

“Oh shut up.” Betty teased while brushing his lips with hers.

“That was the intention.” he smiled and pulled her tighter to himself before he kissed her roughly.

Then he grabbed the hem of her shirt but before pulling it of he looked at her.

“May I?”

She looked dazzled for a second and pulled him for a kiss, biting his bottom lip gently. 

“Yes.” she whimpered when he pressed himself against her.

That was all he needed to hear.

***

Jughead also didn’t plan on sleeping right next to Betty either. Their bodies tangled up each other, clothes were all over the place and the blondie’s bed was too small for two of them. She was sleeping soundly, her head on his arm and his other arm wrapped around her waist.

Oh no, they weren’t just sleeping.

_ Oh, no. _

They were also  _ spooning _ . Cuddling. Hugging.

Jughead Jones was  _ not  _ a hugger.

He slowly pulled his arm under her golden locks and swallowed at the vision before him unconsciously. She was damn beautiful, no deny on that and when she was sleeping, she seemed less intimidating. He got up, collected the rest of his clothes and got dressed. What was he supposed to do now? Should he leave? Should he write his number down for her? Maybe he just had to leave in silence. He grunted at his thought, he was no Archie Andrews. Or should he wait for to wake up and thank her for the last night? Yeah, that sounded better in his head. 

While he looked for a window to open and smoke a cigarette, he heard Betty woke up.

“You can’t smoke in my room.” she grunted sleepily. Jughead stopped in the middle of lighting it and frowned.

“Good morning to you, too.”

Betty rose from her bed, reaching for her top lying on the table. She also somehow managed to wear  shorts under her sheets and finally came closer to Jughead.

“I didn’t think you’d stay.” she said, rubbing her eyes.

“This is my nightly shelter, remember? And Veronica is also not here so I figured she still must be with Archie. So…” he trailed off. 

“Yeah, right.” she said and turned her back at him, finding a bottle of water. He got ready to go through _ the talk _ and all before she decided to offer a cup of coffee or some  _ relationship-y  _ shit. He had to tell her that it was a one time thing and that he only stayed out of courtesy.

“Look,” she started as she passed the bottle to Jughead and cut his chain of thoughts before he even got to speak. “Last night was… interesting, to say the least. But it was a one time thing.”

For reasons unknown to him, Jughead puzzled for a second. He looked at her blankly as she nodded him to speak.

“Yeah, right, definitely.” he said in a rush. “I was already gonna say exactly those, so, yeah, one time thing.”

“Good.” Betty said. “And, uh, it’d be great if we could keep this between us. I really can’t elaborate on Veronica’s questions -- and there would be many, let me mind you.”

Jughead chuckled at him and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Got it.” he said and headed for the door. “Still think you are an annoying girl next door.”

He turned at Betty and saw her smiling.

“And I still think you are an arrogant jerk.” 

He nodded and smiled back before he closed the door behind him.

Jughead left the building in a few seconds and lighted the cigarette that had been dangling on his lips. He took a long drag and walked to the library.

 

Would it be too bad if he admitted himself that he felt a little bummed at Betty’s relief when she said “ _ Good _ ”? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pretty please leave comments and kudos, let me hear your thoughts on this chapter!!
> 
> updates will be quick but if you want to chat even more, come find me on tumblr as newurleans!
> 
> see you, thank you so much for all the love and i love you all <3


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am so so so sorry for posting this late! also thank you so much for the love you have given to this fic, hope you'll like this chapter as well!

It had been a month. 

Not that Betty was counting or not that she actually cared, but it had been a month since the last time she saw Jughead (and he was leaving her room at the moment, but  _ details _ ). And now all of a sudden, on her fifth week in the school, she saw him at the school newspaper office. He was sitting in the chair in front of a desk with a boy behind the desk, must be at her age, chatting lazily. The weirdo beanie and the leather jacket was back on with dark jeans and another color of “S” t-shirt. She thought how could he wear that jacket indoors. 

She cleared her throat to get their attention. The boy behind the desk, pale skin and neat, brown hair, smiled at her direction.

“Hey!” he waved at her. “Betty Cooper, right?”

“Yeah,” she said with an equally cheerful smile. “I think you must be… Kevin?”

“Yes!” the boy raised from his chair and walked towards her to shake her hand. “Jughead, this is our new writer I was telling you about! Come on, meet her. She is so gonna be better than our last writer.”

“I don’t know about that.” she murmured out of courtesy and felt her cheeks reddened when she saw the reaction on Jughead’s face. He seemed… amused? What the hell for?

“Oh, we know each other.” Jughead chuckled. “Hey, Cooper. Welcome to the good old  _ The Blue and Gold _ office.”

“How do you guys know each other?” Kevin seemed interested.

“Mutual friends.” Betty quickly said and ignored the glint of amusement in Jughead’s eyes. “We met at Reggie Mantle’s party.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me that party.” Kevin said. “Total disaster and jock show. Not that I  _ don’t _ like seeing some athletes running around but their parties are total disaster.”

“Yeah, they really are.” Betty murmured and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “And, uh,” she raised her voice a bit to sound more confident. “About my job?”

“Oh, yeah!” Kevin clapped his hands in a  _ get down the business _ way and pointed the empty desk next facing another desk on the right side of Kevin’s. “This is your desk, I already have read your resume and I must say, you did wonderful things at your high school. I’m very lucky for a first timer as an editor.” and he pointed at Jughead’s direction. “Jughead also writes for the school newspaper for almost a month now, so it’s safe to say he can help you out if you need anything and can’t reach me or such. And,” he pointed another door at the end of the room, “That was the red room for photographs ages ago but we live in a digital world and digital world requires coffee. So that’s our supply room where you can find a comfy couch, coffee machine, herbal teas and medical stuff. Although I must say, you have to be extremely clumsy to hurt yourself in this office.”

So, yes, Kevin was a talker. But it was good because there was this awkward silence between Betty and Jughead growing every second. When Kevin left for an interview with the Dean, Betty gave a frustrated sigh.

“Where are your manners, Betty?” Jughead murmured behind his desk, keeping writing on whatever his article was about. “You didn’t even say hi.”

Betty raised an eyebrow at him and stopped reading the issue of the paper that belonged to five years ago.

“Excuse me?”

“I will.” he said. “But first, you didn’t say hi. Isn’t this a negative point on your scale of kindness or something?”

“I didn’t ignore you, did I?” she grumbled. For God’s sake, this guy couldn’t be civil for a minute, could he?

“You only said to  _ Kevin _ that we know each other through Archie and Veronica. That’s hardly a conversation.” Jughead remarked and quitted writing, leaning back on his chair.

Betty took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts. His smirk was even better than she remembered. She put a way too fake smile on her face on purpose, tilted her head to left.

“Hello, Jughead. Long time no see. I hope you are having  _ such  _ a good time. I don’t wanna interrupt your work, take care, goodbye.” Her smile faded in a second. “Is it good enough for you to shut up?”

“You can work on it,” he gave her a thumbs up. “But at least you don’t fake a kindness anymore, that’s something.”

Betty shook her head and went back to her reading (at least she pretended like she did). 

“Jughead Jones is satisfied and world is back on turning around other people too, wonderful.”

“I seriously don’t get why are you so angry with me.” Jughead murmured.

“You  _ don’t what now _ ?” Betty stopped pretending and looked at him. “You are an arrogant ass, Jughead, that is why. You always assume things about people and actually  _ I  _ don’t get why you pick on  _ me _ .”

She knew she was letting him get under her skin but that jackass was just  _ so…  _ himself. Betty hated it and was beyond glad that it was a one time thing between them. Yeah, she  _ definitely  _ was.

Didn’t she think about that night? Yeah, sure she did. She wasn’t a one night stand type anyways. Did she think about Jughead? Maybe a couple of times but  _ only because _ Veronica mentioned his name when she was talking about Archie. Not that Betty deliberately wanted to think about him or anything,  _ come on _ . 

“I don’t  _ pick on you _ , Betty.” Jughead gave a tired sigh. “You are reading into things I say way too much.”

“Whatever.” she mumbled under her breath and stopped the bickering.

Jughead fucking Jones.

 

The first week of the job went smooth, Jughead didn’t try anything on her, he didn’t imply anything or such so it was going… good, actually. He wasn’t really bad as a co-worker, she could say he was even helpful on occasion which was something she didn’t expect from him. But of course, as the old saying goes,  _ the good die young _ . So did his nice behavior.

Okay, to be honest it wasn’t something  _ he _ did to directly at  _ her _ , but it affected the dynamic in the workplace nonetheless.

“Jug, we gotta go.” she heard a new voice from the door. The girl with the pink hair, looking like straight outta rock concert was leaning against the door, with a smile on her face.

Jughead nodded without looking at the girl.

“In a minute, Toni, this shit is a mess.” 

“The movie is about to start.”

_ God _ , Betty thought,  _ did she really have to talk while they were working? _

“I know you missed me but can you just hold on a second?” Jughead said with an amusement.

_ Ah, of course _ . He had a girlfriend. Of course he did. Wait.

Wait.

_ Fucking wait _ .

Did he have a girlfriend when they had…  _ oh, God. _

How dare him? Did he have the faintest idea what kind of a situation he put her in? That fucking bastard. But he would tell her, right? If he had a girlfriend, Jughead would tell her.  _ Why would he _ ? her mother’s voice echoed in her head.  _ You should’ve used your head, Elizabeth. _ Oh, God, was she the Penelope Blossom of this unwanted trio?

“Okay, ready to go.” he grabbed his mailman bag and waved at Betty. “See ya on monday, Cooper.”

Betty didn’t answer him. 

 

Two anxious days later, when her classmate from Journalism 101, Adam Chisholm asked her out; she didn’t plan on saying yes right away because he was nice and all but she just wasn’t interested in dating. She did have priorities and like she discussed with her mother before leaving for college, dating wasn’t one of those priorities. But when she heard Veronica’s plans with Archie, Jughead and  _ Toni _ ; she thought maybe she could give this Adam a chance.

Veronica told her that she didn’t know this Toni girl but she seemed fierce, which was a trait Veronica seemed to value. Betty didn’t elaborate on the conversation much and kindly rejected Veronica’s offer on joining them.  _ As if. _ The raven haired girl didn’t insist on it since she knew that Betty seriously despised Jughead’s company.

So, this Adam Chisholm, suggested maybe they could go on a movie together after her work hours were done. It was fine with Betty, the sooner she went on a date, the quicker she could get Jughead out of her mind. Not that he had a distinct place in her mind. Not really.  _ Really _ .

“You are in a better mood than the last friday.” Jughead said when they both went for a coffee. “Causing trouble in someone’s paradise?”

Betty didn’t even bother to bite back.

“No.” she said simply. “I’m just happy, I guess.”

“Careful, Betty, being happy is a state that human beings happen to be in occasionally. You may not be used to it.”

She knew he was pushing her on purpose but she didn’t felt like playing along.

“I know, it’s reviving, you should try it some time.” and with that, she went back to her desk and rewarded with famous Jughead frowns for the rest of the day. 

Adam swung by at 7 when she was about to leave and knocked on the door frame. He wasn’t carrying a back and seemed like he spent time to get ready which was better than Betty thought since she carried all the anxiety of the day on her shoulders. She smiled at him and went to grab her coat and bag.

“You look good,” Adam smiled. “Really loved this cozy place by the way.”

“Thank you,” Betty answered and before she left, she turned at Jughead who seemed really focused on his work. “See you, Jughead.” 

She didn’t hear his answer but didn’t wait for one either.

***

Jughead was  _ furious _ , to say the least. This blondie was  _ such _ a pain in the ass. He hated her blonde ponytail like she was in elementary school, her pastel sweaters and her  _ stupid _ kindness towards  _ everyone _ . Well, everyone except for him but details, you know. Betty goddamn Cooper. 

She was so predictable at first, he could easily get under her skin and there was something in her anger that especially drove him to her. She was not the type of person who got angry often, that was for sure. She was the kind type -- smiled at everyone, laughed with everyone, helped everyone. Even him, sometimes. But her anger was only reserved for him, her sassy comebacks, her snarky comments… As masochist as this sounded in Jughead’s head, he kinda liked the idea of being the only person who was able to do that to her. Or so he hoped. 

She ruined everything in the last week. 

Okay, what she did maybe couldn’t be described as “ruining” but it sure shifted the energy in the office.

She was kind to  _ him _ . Yeah, she gave sassy comebacks and everything but she kept them light and funny, not the usual  _ stay-away-from-me _ attacks. Which was weird because… well, Jughead hated her fake kindness. He wanted her to be honest with him. 

_ Why does it matter _ ? A voice echoed in his head. Why did Betty Copper’s honesty or therelackof matter to Jughead Jones, the resident brooding outcast? He huffed in frustration and slammed the book in front of him.  _ Sorry, Capote _ . 

And now, she was with this stupid guy, going out and all. But of course, the boy was neat and seemed caring -- a male fake Betty Cooper in all his glory. A proper Ken to her Barbie.  _ Of course _ , that must had been Betty’s type; a guy she could bring home on Christmas. Not that he cared what the fuck was Betty’s type but he mocked with her Barbie play house fantasy in his head bitterly. Of course, a brooding type with flannel couldn’t be her type now could it?

Hey, hold on a second there.

_ Hey. _

_ What the-- _

_ Oh boy _ .

So he did something he thought he’d never had to do in his miserable 18 years. He called Archie to figure this shit out.

 

“I wouldn’t wanna brag, bro, but it is understandable why you came to me for this. And tell Toni to suck it by the way.”

“Shut up, Arch.” Jughead mumbled and took a sip from his beer. “I just… this so absurd, you know. I was the one who got her mad at me all the time but now she goes out with stupid guys and smiles at them and… you know what? This doesn’t mean anything. Forget it, it was a stupid idea even thinking about that. How’s football these days?”

Archie leaned back on his seat and took a long sip from his beer. He laughed at his best friend. 

“Come on, Juggie, you are clearly like Betty, admit it. And you are not the dating type so it bugs you when she does it.”

“No it doesn’t and yes I date.” Jughead objected. “Occasionally.”

The ginger shook his head.

“Toni doesn’t count.” he said.

“Why the fuck is that?”

“Because it was the sophomore year of high school and you guys only kissed couple of times and then she became your foster sister. So, no, she doesn’t count.”

“There was… Midge?”

“Yeah the girl who stood you up at Pop’s for Moose on the orientation week is definitely a good example of dating, Jug.”

“How about Trula? You can’t ignore  _ her _ .”

“Nothing good can come out of a person named  _ Trula _ .” Jughead heard a feminine voice behind him. The raven haired girl remove her black cape on her shoulders and ordered a gin tonic before she sat down.  _ Oh for fuck’s sake. _ Veronica Lodge was the last person he needed in this conversation. She sat down next to Archie gracefully and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Are you serious, Archie? I thought it was supposed to be just us.” Jughead grumbled but Veronica didn’t even flinch.

“Aww, Jughead, do you feel possessive over Archiekins? That’s cute, you know and I totally see the appeal.” she sighed and tilted his head. “Don’t blame him, by the way, my roommate told me she was going to miss our usual Monday routine so I thought I could join you guys here.”

“Hey, we are here for the same reason, too.” Archie smiled and draped his arm over her shoulders.

“You guys have a Monday facial routine too?”

“Yes, Veronica, we also paint each other’s nails.”

“Good to hear that, Jug, I think you can rock your outfit with  _ la dame de noir  _ color, I can send you the brand later.” she said with a straight face. 

“Actually,” Archie started ignoring Jughead’s kick on his knee. “Jughead has a girl problem. He kinda likes the girl but doesn’t wanna admit it and now the girl is seeing another guy.”

Jughead was sorta relieved when Archie left Betty’s name out of the subject. 

“I don’t  _ like _ her.” he objected. “I just have problems with her everchanging attitude.”

“So…” Veronica clasped her hands on the table and leaned towards him. “You like her.”

“ _ No. _ ”

“Okay… that sound’s fake but okay.” Veronica smirked. “Anyways, if you don’t want her to see other guys, just tell her, Jughead. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“You don’t really expect me to reenact a good old  _ Friends _ scene here, Veronica, do you?” he scolded the raven haired girl. 

She simply just shrugged.

“A girl can hope.” she said. “But seriously, your silly little crush on Betty is just gets more awkward than it is.”

“I don’t have a  _ crush _ on her for fuck’s--  _ wait. _ ” he raised his finger. “Who said anything about Betty?”

He knew he was too late when a victorious smile appeared on her face.

“Look, you are not the social butterfly here.” she explained. “And you always seem to react to a camera like you are in  _ The Office _ . So… it’s only suitable when you have a workplace crush on my roommate.” 

Jughead didn’t even bother to reject her openly accusations. 

“You should work for FBI, you know.” he said in the most sarcastic tone he could come up with.

“Meh, Daddy wouldn’t entertain the idea I guess but thanks.” Veronica said and he couldn’t be sure if she was messing with him or straight up serious. Jughead didn’t even bother on that either. 

“Look, whatever you may imply here, Veronica, it’s just a disagreement of behavioral problems between Betty and I. Do not put ideas in her head.”

The last thing Jughead wanted Betty to do was her to entertain Veronica’s inappropriate ideas.

“Why would I put ideas in her head when she is clearly interested in some other guy?” Veronica put an innocent express on her face. “And, come on, do you really spend time on these fancy words in your head?”

Okay so maybe he  _ did _ want her to put ideas in Betty’s head. Just to see how she would react. You know, to clear his head on the issue.

_ What issue _ ?

_ Shut up. _

“I simply think Jughead should see other people.” Archie interrupted. Oh so  _ now  _ he was giving advice.  _ How fucking wonderful _ . “Come on, man, if you don’t have any feelings for Betty, it shouldn’t be that hard for you to date other girls. But if you do have feelings for her, I think it is best to clear them out.”

“Who died and left you in charge of giving advice on dating?” Jughead sneered.

Archie chuckled and drank the rest of his beer.

“My youth did alongside yours.” he shot back. Archie was extra annoying when he used that ginger head of his.

 

That night, Jughead was sitting in their dorm room, watching an episode of  _ Cheers _ and digging the noodle leftover. Archie and Veronica were in the raven haired girl’s room, which meant Betty would be out for the night. He wondered how her date went. He didn’t even try to insult his intelligence and claim that he didn’t care. He fucking cared and he fucking hated it.

_ Holy shit _ , he thought, watching the credits roll.  _ Holy shit, I like Betty Cooper. _

Oh boy was he doomed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please let me know what you think!! thank you for leaving a kudos & a comment
> 
> see you <3


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead is not okay with his feelings and Betty doesn't make it any easier either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for all the love you give to this fic!! hope you'll like this one as well and happy new year to all!

Of course he wasn’t gonna go on dates just because Archie said so. Jughead knew his limits, after all. Yeah, he’d ask for advice when he needed to clear his head but he also never forgot his motto he had come up with at the fifth year of elementary school, after failing miserably on football team: _ Think what would Archie do and do the opposite of it. _ Believe it or not, it kept Jughead safe on so many occasions. So, no, he wasn’t gonna date girls just to forget about Betty. And Jughead wasn’t the type of guy who hung up on some girl for a long time, not really. Mommy issues, commitment issues, or whatever the hell his problem was, it wouldn’t let him anyways. 

A week and a day later, on Tuesday, he hated going to his classes. Even as a freshman, he already knew he was going to pick English as his major anyways but  _ ugh _ … He couldn’t focus on anything because he couldn’t sleep well and when he did sleep, he didn’t have pleasant dreams, to say the least. The last time this happened, he was knee too deep in Serpents and there was a fresh tattoo on his arm to prove that. Not the best design but it had felt right at the time. He absent mindedly rub the tattoo on his shoulder and thought about those times before he and Toni moved to Chicago with his dad. For a lonely kid, the gang had been a welcoming home to go and he’d always had this thrill in him whenever he had felt like he had been cared. Like  _ he _ had cared. So when they moved to Chicago, he felt like something was stolen from him. He felt uneasy. Like now.

Okay so him and Betty didn’t share that kind of deep connection maybe and no, Betty wasn’t a gang of her own but given how much of a dramatic ass he was being right now, yeah, he was having the same uneasy feeling in his chest.

When he got to the newspaper office, he saw Kevin and Betty talking.

“Hey there the devoted journalists of Riverdale Community College.” he greeted them with a faux enthusiasm. “You seem pretty excited.”

“Yes!” Kevin chimed. “The Dean finally let me establish the first GSA of the school so yes, you can say we are excited.” He took a deep breath and adjusted his posture. “Can you believe they never had one in this school? Like, ever?”

“We also have an orange as a president, so no, Kev, it didn’t actually surprise me.”

He tried to keep watching Betty without giving it away too much but failed again.

“‘Sup, Betts?”

Betty raised her blonde eyebrows at his direction. He couldn’t tell if she was surprised at the nickname or just at him saying hi to her. He didn’t want to.

“Good.” she shrugged, without the usual  _ I love being alive _ smile on her face. She seemed to have an argument in her mind before she spoke again. She finally sighed. “How are you, Jughead?”

He was a little bit disappointed, actually.

“Good.” he simply put. “Had a good time with your date last night? What was his name again? Aaron? Couldn’t catch.”

“For the last time, Jug, it’s  _ Adam _ .” 

“Oh, right, the other biblical name. Sorry, I forgot.”

“You called him  _ Abraham _ the other day!”

He hardly kept his smirk to himself.

“What can I say? I always keep mixing the names. Not everyone got a memory of an elephant.”

“I wonder what are you going to do when you are out of the biblical names starting with A.” she said and went back to her desk.

“You two need to out with it.” Kevin said under his breath and the two of them looked at him in a split second. He didn’t look at them back and left the room mumbling some excuse. 

“What did he mean?” Jughead asked, before even Betty could get the chance.

“I don’t know.” Betty said, not holding his gaze and returning to her computer. Her eyebrows were way too knitted. 

“So… you didn’t really say anything about Abel.” he said teasingly.

“Who?” Betty asked and then she frowned. “Oh,  _ Adam _ .”

_ “Right… _ ” Jughead faked a remorse. “That was his name.”

“It was okay, I think.” Betty murmured. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Come on, Betts, give me some gossip here. I may not write the column but Kevin wouldn’t mind.” 

“You being curious over my dating life isn’t something usual. What’s up with the act?”

Jughead shrugged as he put down his bag and went for the fresh coffee he could smell from a mile away.

“I’m trying this thing called  _ communication _ . I heard it helps with solving tensions and engage with the society and all that. I’d suggest some for you, it’s refreshing.”

Betty rolled eyes at him and returned to her desk, trying to concentrate on her article for the week. Something was definitely off with her and Jughead couldn’t help the curious cat in him.

“Okay, Cooper, I know you are pretty attached to your  _ being an enigma  _ aesthetics but you seem less… I don’t know, on edge than usual but not in a cool and peaceful way. What’s wrong?”

Betty gave him a confused look and opened her mouth to object but seemed to decide against it. Her shoulders slouched and she just shook her head. Her ponytail bounced in a very cute way.

“Nothing.” she said, giving a long held breath. She cleared her throat and looked at him with a amal smile. “Your concern about my wellness is touching, though.” 

“Oh we are colleagues, Betts,” he chuckled and sat on top of his desk. “And, you know, we kinda  _ know _ each other now.”

Because he just had to bring  _ that  _ up. He hated himself for being such a crybaby and pushing her to talk about her  _ boyfriend _ but he couldn’t help himself. He just… wanted to know.

Damn with crushes. 

Betty glared at him over her laptop and took a sip from her coffee. 

“Yeah, right.” she said with an angry tone in her voice. “Because  _ that  _ gives you a some kind of right to know, right?” she snapped. “Sure.”

“I-I didn’t mean it like that.” he stammered. “I just-- you know what? Nevermind. My bad. Shouldn’t even have asked in the first place.” He was just making conversation, what was so bad about that? She couldn’t just be nice to him for fucking once? Apparently not.

Betty, taken aback by his outburst, swallowed her anger away and avoid his gaze by looking towards the window. 

“I’m sorry.” she murmured. “I was just… I had a bad couple of days, that is all. It wasn’t cool of me to throw it all on you like that.” 

Jughead leaned back on his chair, making it squeak under his weight.

“It’s okay,” he shrugged as he opened his laptop. “Really, no problem, I shouldn’t have bother you anyways.”

They worked in silence for a couple of minutes until Betty shut down her laptop, looking exceptionally tired.

“No, it was so not okay.” she said, now looking directly at Jughead. “You were just being… kind, I don’t know, but I didn’t have to be rude that much, you know.”

“Okay?” Jughead nodded and stopped his writing, waiting for her to continue. 

Betty took a deep breath and shook her head, put a smile on and got up. 

“Come on, I’ll buy you a coffee.”

“You’ll what now?” he frowned at her. “Betty, it’s okay, I get it, that’s how we roll most of the time. You don’t have to buy your way into my good manners. I can behave, really.”

 

He wasn’t going to be bought. He wasn’t going to be pitied by some blondie who happened to be his crush at the same time for some reason. He wasn’t--

But then she looked at him with those pretty eyes of hers and he was done for.

 

“Fine.” he sighed and got up as well, throwing his denim jacket over his shoulder. “But only if you promise not to be ashamed by being seen with me.”

Her giggle was not a indication of mocking, it was a good change ever since the first time they’d seen each other at the newspaper room. 

“I’ll try my best.” Betty nodded and led the way.

***

Them having coffee together and sitting on a bench near the Sweetwater River just outside of the campus wasn’t really such a bad thing to do on a lazy afternoon, Betty thought. It was a nice spot to sit and talk, even just nonsense. Jughead was fun to talk about literature and movies, actually -- not really a show off who spent too much time in his parents’ basement. Betty felt at ease while talking to him.

“So,” he asked when he finally finished ranting about Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. “Are you eventually going to tell me what is actually wrong or should I just keep ranting about how weak was the characterization of Padme Amidala regardless of the potential she had?”

Betty sighed with a smile on her lips and drank the rest of her now warm coffee.

“Why are so interested in knowing, Jughead?” she asked. “You don’t really usually initiate a conversation with me longer than two sentences if it’s not bickering?”

“Way to go making me sound like an absolute douche, Cooper, thanks.” Jughead grumbled but gave her a side smirk nonetheless. “Now come on, I’m obviously making an effort here.”

“Which still amazes me.” Betty pointed out and when he gave her a glare she raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay,” she laughed and took a deep breath. “It’s just… Adam and I broke up.”

“Oh.” was the only thing he said while keeping his gaze on the river. “I’m sorry to hear that.” 

“Yeah.” she said. “Me too.” 

“Really?” he finally looked at her. “Like, you guys were serious or anything?”

“No, no,” she laughed. “I don’t think we were serious. It’s just…”  _ What was it, really?  _ “It’s just that feeling of breaking up, you know? I’m not much of a dating person, I can’t prolong relationships that much so it’s really not a loss but Adam was… I don’t know, one of the good ones, I guess. I don’t like messing things up with good people.”

“I can relate to that.” Jughead said almost in a whisper, smiling softly. “I mean I am not really the good guys in the stories but I think I really don’t like messing good people up, either.”

Betty thought for a second if there was a double meaning behind Jughead’s words.

“But breaking up still sucks,” she said. “I don’t know, I think that’s why talking to was easy -- you know, we didn’t have a relationship to put in the past and all.”

“That’s your way of easy?” Jughead chuckled. “Well, Cooper, I’d feel lucky if I knew that. And here I am, thinking you just hated me.”

“Hate is a strong word.” Betty objected but she was laughing, too. “Let’s say you are not the easiest person, either.”

“I can be down for that.” Jughead smiled at her and she wondered how would it be like to be this way with him, all the time. She wondered if she missed a great chance on that department.

“It’s nice, you know.” he said finally, his hands in his pocket and fidgeting in his seat. “Us talking without a fight.”

“You are picking way too strong words today, Jug,” she laughed and didn’t miss the way his face softened at the nickname. “And bickering what made us meet in the first place, I mind you.”

“I just wanted to see if the Girl Next Door Aesthetics could put up a good fight, that is all.” he shrugged. 

“And did I?” she asked after a few seconds of silence. “Put up a good fight, that is?”

Jughead gave her a long glance as if he was trying to evaluate her rank. 

“I always try to see if you can top yourself even more on that and you always do.” he said finally. 

“That is the nicest thing you’d ever said to me.” Betty giggled and nudged his shoulder with hers. 

“I’m just being kind since you are very heartbroken over your break up.” he said in a mock seriousness and Betty laughed even more. 

“Aren’t you a gentleman?” she asked playfully and he leaned to her side to whisper.

“You know I have my own definition being gentle, Betts.” She was too surprised at his words to even punch him and she got distracted when he got up. “We should get going,” he said. “Kevin is probably back and wondering our whereabouts already.”

She nodded and refused to talk on their way back to the newspaper.

***

Maybe it was too much. Maybe he should’ve shut up about the whole weird flirtation attempts which clearly had bothered her since she didn’t say a word about it. Not even a comeback. Not even a salty attempt. Nothing.

Although, she  _ was  _ nicer than the usual. She asked if he needed any coffee while she was making herself some, even. Which was a great attempt coming from Betty Cooper -- the ultimate coffee consumer who never left any for him. 

He didn’t want to get his hopes up. He wasn’t going to dwell on some common decency. Jughead wasn’t like that, he was--

“Hey, Jug, I’m gonna take of in a minute and go drink something with Veronica and Archie. Wanna tag along?”

He was so, so screwed. 

“Uh, sure, just wrapping things up here.” he said and immediately saved his work, almost throwing his laptop into his messenger bag. “Ready.”

She gave him a bright smile and he could barely resist to the urge of kissing it off of her.

Oh, shit.

 

Betty, on the other hand, was too distracted to realize Jughead’s ongoing demeanor since she was focused on controlling herself.  _ He is just being kind since we talked it out, _ she said herself.  _ He is just taking easy on me, probably thinking I am sad or something, he can be civilized, too _ . But in a tiny corner of her mind kept eating her thoughts, nonetheless. Was he also flirting with her?

Would that change anything?

Maybe, just maybe, this brand new shift on their relationship could change something for them. Maybe if she could be kind sooner, he’d change his behavior, too. Oh, how she hated “maybes”. 

But she also thought she hated Jughead Jones, too.

Oh, well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, pleeeease leave a kudos and a comment <3
> 
> happy new year!!


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...and they finally get there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and the final chapter is here!!! thank you all so much for the love you've shown towards this fic and me, i am eternally grateful. hope you'll like this one as well, lots of love <3

The shift between Jughead and Betty took a great turn in the future prospect. Now considering one another as friends (or whatever, sue them), both of them tried their best to impress the other with their kindness like a challenge. One day Jughead came in with coffee, remembering Betty’s usual order precisely and the next day Betty brought in fresh homemade cupcakes with Jughead’s favorite, sprinkles with extra amount on top of it. It was an ongoing challenge going side by side with their daily bickerings which now ended not with grumblings or storming out of the room but with smirks, hidden smiles and one-second-too-long gazes. 

Jughead felt like a feather bloating whenever he was around her, still on edge but not as quiet as frightening or rather annoying. Betty was… not such a bad person to have a crush on, right? He’d seen worse. 

Also, he kinda remembered what could happen between them again which was so not awful to think about. His only concern was now what Betty told him the previous week about not wanting to messing things up with good people and how nice that they didn’t have a history to elaborate despite the night they’d spent together. She probably didn’t even think about having a relationship with him, right? She probably saw him as a comic relief, the good guy trope that she could cry on his shoulder. 

Hey, he could be a badass. He could show her that he wasn’t such a nice person, right? He had a gang tattoo, for fuck’s sake!

Maybe he should use his father’s hand-me-down motorbike to come to school some day. You know, just for the aesthetic.

Or he spent way too much time with Archie growing up, now he was getting all the side effects. 

_ Fuck. _

 

“Penny for your thoughts?” Betty’s voice chimed in the room and Jughead realized he hadn’t been paying attention to his article in hand now that the laptop showing a screensaver written “stay the fuck away”. 

“Oh, nothing.” he said dismissively and opened the laptop again, trying to focus on his work but he didn’t even remember what he was supposed to write in the first place. “Just, uh, this deadline thing is killing me lately.”

“Anything I can help with?”

It was easier when she was mean, actually. 

“No, but thanks.” he said. “I just need to clear my head, I guess.”

“Why? Something happened?” 

Jughead raised his head from his laptop and looked at Betty’s purely concerned face. Her hair wasn’t pulled in a tight ponytail like she usually wore and she had some make up, looking fancy or something. Whatever. Like she was going out for the night which he knew that Veronica wasn’t a part of thanks to Archie. He felt his stomach clenched and he wanted to punch the feeling away.

“I’d ask you the same.” he changed the subject. “Going somewhere?”

“Oh, me?” the blonde’s face somehow brightened as she look down on her peach pink dress. “No, it’s just my mom is in town and this is the first time she goes out after the divorce, so, I wanted to impress her.”

_ Oh _ . He didn’t know she went through that and here he was, brooding over the possibilities of her going on dates and all. What a jerk he could be sometimes.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” he said instead and gave her an assuring smile. “And for the record, I don’t think you’ll have a hard time to impress your mother.” 

He didn’t want to be hopeful as a general rule in life but he could swear she was blushing. 

“Thank you.” she said softly and sighed happily as she dropped her bag on the desk, opening her laptop to continue her own article. “And, uh, you don’t look so bad yourself, too.” he almost didn’t hear that but gave her a smile and adjusted his beanie absentmindedly. 

Maybe it wasn’t just bad as he thought it would be.

He smiled even wider.

***

“I feel like I should be meddling with your love life even more.” Veronica sighed when she watched Betty plopped on her bed with a tired look on her face. “It’d tune out your mother’s unyielding will to set you up with someone.”

“How do you know that’s what she did?” Betty mumbled while closed her hands on her face and lied down. “She could bother me with my… well, anything about myself, really.”

“Nope.” Veronica popped the p at the end of it. “You wouldn’t care about what she had to say on anything in your life besides that particular subject. Anyways,” she got up from her desk chair and sat down next to Betty, caressing her hair. “How’s it going, B?”

Betty put her head on Veronica’s lap and let her caress her hair. 

“It’s nice so far.” she said. “I mean… the school is good, I guess.”

“That wasn’t what I was asking about.” the brunette sighed. “You just had a break up, that should be hard.”

“Wha-? Oh, Adam, right.” Betty cursed herself for momentarily forgetting his name. “I mean I was kinda getting used to his presence but emotionally I am more okay than I expected.”

“Of course you are.” Veronica murmured and Betty looked up.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Veronica faked an innocent look and pursed her lips. 

“Was it supposed to mean anything?”

“ _ Veronica.” _

“I just…” Veronica gave an exasperated sigh and opened her arms in defense. “I think it’s not Adam you care about. I think your mother got under your skin only because you have someone else in mind.”

Betty got up and scowled.

“I know what you’re gonna say and please don’t.”

“Betty,” Veronica put a hand on her shoulder. “I only say this out of sheer love and only love but you being such a dramatic dumbass right now.”

Betty didn’t say anything in return except scowling even more and playing with a thread of her sweater. She knew what Veronica meant and it was so hard for her to disturb this newly found balance between Jughead and her. She wanted to say that they were only friends, she wanted to say nothing happened between them and nothing would but she knew, deep down, that she wouldn’t be able to lie about the butterflies in her belly every time he smiled at her.

“V…” she spoke barely and Veronica tilted her head to the right. “I might have something to confess.” and then she told her best friend about what really went down between them after that one particular party.

 

“I knew it!” Veronica seemed very content and satisfied. “I knew there was something you didn’t tell me!” she slapped Betty’s arm.

“ _ Ow _ !”

“Damn, B,  _ get some _ !” she laughed and after she calmed down she said, “But seriously, Betty, what is wrong with you? He seems like he is interested.”

“You don’t know that.” Veronica just pursed her lips and Betty realized that she indeed knew that. “ _ Spill _ .”

Veronica didn’t need to be told twice and told her about the conversation between her and Jughead via Archie.

“We should catch up even more, B,” Veronica said and got up despite the objections Betty throwing her way. “Use the information wisely, catch you later!” and she was gone.

Betty buried herself into her pillows and let out a frustrated groan.

***

He had it enough, Jughead thought. He had enough of being the nice guy, being the kind guy and protecting this balance between him and Betty. Screw being just friends, he decided to tell her. Screw being whatever the hell this was. He was going to tell her that he wanted to be more than that. That he still remembered how she---

Or maybe he wouldn’t go that far. At least not right away. Maybe he’d just ask her out like a damn normal person would.

He decided that he’d wait until tomorrow when she was at the Blue and Gold room to talk. He wasn’t going to stalk her, of course not. He was now gonna get a drink first and leave this stupid crush situation for tomorrow’s Jughead.

 

The place was packed when he went there to find Archie. He barely could find a table outside to have a smoke thanks to the couple leaving it. He asked for a beer and pulled out his phone to call Archie. Maybe his Golden Retriever friend would find a dumb way to cheer him up.

It wasn’t needed, though. It was only half way through to his call, he saw Betty approaching all by herself.

“Betty?” he called her name but the place was crowded even on the outside. “Betty?” he raised his voice and drew her attention. He tried not to get his hopes up and his stomach to flip when he see the bright smile on her face.

“Jughead? What are you doing here?”

“Just… hanging out, I think. The house was too stiffy tonight.” He pointed the empty chair next to him. “Have a seat. I mean… if you’re not waiting for somebody.”

“No one.” she said and he didn’t know he’d be relieved that much. “My place too stiffy, too.”

“It’s a bad night for both of us, huh?” he joked and waved to the waiter. 

“I wouldn’t say bad.” she said after ordering a gin tonic. “Weird, but not bad.”

“I have a unique fascination about that word.” he laughed. “Probably because of being called weirdo during my formative years.”

Betty laughed as well and Jughead felt like making her laugh was the most important task in his life. He’d just… spent his life for that would be honored.

And, yes, he was dramatic. So what?

“How are you?” he asked. “After seeing your mother, I mean.”

Her mood shifted and he couldn’t read the emotion on her face. 

“It’s fine.” she said. “Alice Cooper, sorry, Alice Smith is one hell of a hurricane. But I’m used to it.”

“Mothers are a handful.” he said in a very serious face. “Especially during their middle age years, they are quite the work. One must be careful about the sharp edges and all.”

Betty kept looking at his face for a few seconds before she bursted into a fit of laughter. 

“I’m sorry.” she said when she calmed down. “I just… god, I needed that, thanks, Jug.”

“Anytime…” he trailed off. “I was… uh… I was gonna ask you something.”

“Yeah? What is it?” she wasn’t laughing anymore. “Something happened?”

“No, no…” he said in a rush. “It’s just…” he swallowed and licked his lips and lit up a new cigarette. “Are you hungry?” 

Betty seemed surprised by his question and pouted. 

“That’s what you were gonna ask?” she said.

“Related.” he admitted. “But I can’t think straight when I’m hungry, you know.”

“I know.” she scoffed and her face softened. “Let’s eat something.”

 

He took her to Pop’s where he knew the best burgers were. They sat down and he wolfed down nearly everything, much to Betty’s joy. 

“You look like a school boy straight outta soccer practice.”

He fake frowned and pointed a finger at her. 

“You take that back, Betty Cooper. I was never once in my life a jock.”

Betty threw a fries at him and chuckled.

“You seemed so fervent about defending them.” she teased. “What happened?”

“This again?” he snorted. “I’d like to remind you how that night ended.”

Betty immediately blushed and Jughead felt a small pang of embarrassment in his chest. He knew it was uncalled for but he couldn’t help himself. If this was how he was going to get a date form Betty, he’d embarrass the shit out of himself. Watch him.

“The thing I was going to ask…” he cleared his throat and adjusted his beanie. “I thought, you know, given our mutual history and now this mature friendship… I… wanna go get a drink together?” he blurted out finally but Betty seemed confused.

“We just had drinks, Juggie.” she said. “I don’t think it’d be good now that…” she trailed off and her eyes widened. “ _ Oh _ .”

“Yeah.” Jughead said and averted his gaze. “That one.”

“That’s, uh… that’s rather unexpected.” she swallowed. 

Jughead raised his eyebrows and looked her in the eyes.

“Unexpected? What did you think I was doing for the last couple of weeks, Betty?”

“I didn’t mean like that!” she said in a rush and clutched his hand over the table. “I just thought you’d never ask.” she whispered and Jughead felt like someone just kicked him in the stomach. In a good way. Very good way.

“So, uh, after all the bickering and everything… I’d like to take you out and brag about my knowledge of old movies and old books to annoy the hell out of you.”

Betty giggled and nodded, her ponytail bounced. 

“I’d love to have a dinner with you and correct every opinion you have on next Saturday.”

Jughead’s smile widened even more and he squeezed her hand on top of his.

“I’ll be there on 7 sharp to get you agitated.” he said. “Can’t wait.”

Betty winked at him.

“You’ll get desert if you’re lucky.” she said before she got up and left the diner, leaving Jughead’s jaw dropped.

He knew, indeed, he must be so lucky to get a date from a girl like Betty Cooper. Who would’ve thunk, really, that annoying know-it-all blondie would make his heart race like that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you thank you thank you for this journey!! i hope i'll see you around via my gg!au fic but if not, just now that i appreciate every bit of love you've sent my way.  
> thank you for all the kudos and the comments, see you <3

**Author's Note:**

> [in cursive letters] pleaaaase validate me i need it so much [/in cursive letters]
> 
> hope you'll leave a kudos and a comment, see you!


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